82 
PLINT's l^ATUPvAL HISTOIir. 
[Book XI. 
grows again. That of the head in man grows the fastest, and 
next to it the hair of the beard. When cut, the hairs shoot, 
not from the place where they have been cut, as is the case 
with grass, but at the root. The hair grows quickly in cer- 
tain diseases, phthisis more particularly ; it grows also with 
rapidity in old age, and on the body after death. In persons 
of a libidinous tendency the hair that is produced at birth falls 
off more speedily, while that which is afterwards produced 
grows with the greatest rapidity. In quadrupeds, the hair 
grows thicker in old age ; but on those with wool, it becomes 
thinner. Those quadrupeds which have thick hair on the 
back, have the belly quite smooth. From the hides of oxen, 
and that of the bull more especially, glue is extracted by 
boiling. 
cuAP. 95.— THE paps: bieds that have paps, kemahkable 
FACTS COJ^^NECTED WITH THE DUGS OF ANIMALS. 
Man is the only male among animals that has nipples, all 
the rest having mere marks only in place of them. Among 
female animals even, the only ones that have mammae on the 
breast are those which can nurture their young. JN^o oviparous 
animal has mammse, and those only have milk that are vivi- 
parous ; the bat being the only winged animal that has it. As 
for the stories that they tell, about the screech-owl ejecting milk 
from its teats upon the lips of infanta, I look upon it as utterly 
fabulous : from ancient times the name strix,"^^ I am aware, 
has been employed in maledictions, but I do not think it is 
well ascertained what bird is really meant by that name. 
(40.) The female ass is troubled with pains in the teats 
after it has foaled, and it is for that reason that at the end of 
six months it weans its young ; while the mare suckles its 
young for nearly the whole year. The solid-hoofed animals 
do not bear more than two young ones at a time : they all of 
them have two paps, and nowhere but between the hind legs. 
x\nimals with cloven feet and with horns, such as the cow, for 
instance, have four paps, similarly situate, sheep and goats two. 
'•io It is not improbable that, under this name, some kind of large vam- 
pire bat was meant; but, as PHny says, it is impossible to arrive at any 
certain knowledge on the subject. The best account given ot the strix is 
that in Ovid's Fasti, B. vi. The name was given opprobiously to sup^-- 
witches, the ''foul and midnight hags" of Shakspeare. 
